Evaluation of Land Use Land Cover Changes in Response to Land Surface Temperature With Satellite Indices and Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are known as the main factors causing soil degradation, which presents considerable obstacles to maintaining soil quality and the resilience of ecosystems. Human activities substantially impact LULC changes, particularly in areas experiencing rapid development. The objective of this study is to assess the changes in LULC, land surface temperature (LST), Normalized Differentiate Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Normalized Differentiate Built-up Index (NDBI) in Kasur District from 1991 to 2021. The study analyzed five major LULC classes: Water bodies, Urban areas, barren land, forest Cover, and vegetated areas. Our analysis revealed that the Urban area of Kasur expanded by around 16.27%. The vegetation cover experienced a slight decline of just 1%, while water bodies declined by 0.26%. Forest cover experienced a decrease of about 0.54%, and bare land decreased significantly by 14.4%. The imagery classification achieved an overall accuracy of 88% to 92%. The highest NDVI value was observed in 1991 (+0.89), while the lowest was in 2021 (+0.56). Similarly, the highest NDBI recorded was +0.83 in 2021, while the lowest was +0.65 in 1991. The linear regression analysis revealed a strong negative association between the NDVI and NDBI. LST results exhibited a 0.55°C increase between the years 1991 and 2021. The study's findings align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG-15, which aims to protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt land degradation and biodiversity loss.